TNA Impact to go head to head with Raw

[Ambiguous Turd]

The latest on Hulk Hogan signing with TNA is that he will be a major on-screen character, but will not wrestle on a regular basis. With Hogan and Eric Bischoff joining TNA, it allows Spike TV to get first opportunity at signing a deal for the Hogan/Ric Flair reality series.

The Hogan signing is said to be the first of many major announcements from TNA and Spike TV. A speculated announcement is a timeslot change for Impact to go head-to-head with Raw and additional programming.

Credit: F4WOnline.com

When this was being speculated before, I didn't see much good coming out of it. But if they were to do this after Hogan gets his feet wet, then I only see good things coming as a result of it.

WWE Loyalists have stated in the past that if TNA were to do this, then WWE would steal TNA viewers away. I actually see just the opposite happening. People already know what Wakeless Watered-down Entertainment has to offer and that has been the same shit for years.

TNA going up head to head with Raw will be like Nitro happening all over again. Or in this case, I should say "Raw" since this time, the roles will be reversed. WWE will be the family-kiddie friendly programming, while TNA being the more edgy, adult product this time. WWE is unquestionably more bound by the content rating, with TNA having the greater flexibility to do what it wants.

If anything, I see TNA actually taking viewers away from Raw. Not vice versa. I can't say how many people I know that watch Raw simply out of habit and describe it as "being a chore".

I see great things ahead for the wrestling business. Put it this way-- Vince has his hands full. Now he actually has something to storm around the office and shout at people over.

 

[X]

Holy shit, if this is true, the big announcements just keep on rolling out of Camp TNA. I give it about 10 seconds before the WWE marks start spamming this thread up Sidious, be prepared.

Frankly I don't think they're ready yet to compete with the WWE head-to-head, but giving it a try certainly couldn't hurt. Have a special "Monday Night Impact" or something to that effect, see if the ratings stay the same.

The prospects of a Flair/Hogan reality show has me even more excited though. Seriously, can you imagine the comedic fucking gold that would come out of that television show? That would have the potential to be the greatest television show ever.

If this is confirmed though, well then this day just keeps getting better. This is TNA full on declaring war on the WWE, and is just the kick in the pants McMahon needs to improve his dwindling product.

 

[xJAYxJAYx]

Frankly I don't think they're ready yet to compete with the WWE head-to-head, but giving it a try certainly couldn't hurt. Have a special "Monday Night Impact" or something to that effect, see if the ratings stay the same.

I agree that I don't think they are ready to compete head to head just yet...but if they do, I agree with Sidious that TNA will actually steal away viewers from Raw. I know I would not be watching Raw anymore. TNA Impact has been amazing lately and has actually gotten me excited to tune in each Thursday. Nothing but good things for TNA!

 

[Lee]

I'm a WWE mark but damn if TNA goes head to head with Raw that would be great. We've argued for a while that WWE needs competion and Impact on a Thursday isn't really competition. But put it on Monday nights with their old rival Bischoff and add the biggest Superstar ever then it's going to be good for both WWE and TNA and essentially wrestling fans the world over.

 

[Big Ol' Buckta AIDS]

I dont belive that TNA is ready to go head to head with WWE yet. give it a couple of years and then with the majority of WWE fans growing up, they will switch to TNA. if it really becomes a problem, the WWE will simply switch to tv-14 rating. the WWE was PG before the atitude era and they can go back if they really need to.

 

[Viola Moonlight]

Hogan/Bischoff to TNA, TNA Impact to go head to head with RAW... I thought bad things come in threes? Well, for the WWE that is, not TNA. I wonder if TNA has anything else up their sleeves?

Look, having a crack at airing their own product with the WWE's RAW won't be anything but beneficial to TNA. They don't have great ratings as it is, so if they get defeated by RAW it is not going to matter much. This can act as the test subject to see how the modern day TNA can fair up against the best brand the WWE has to offer in the ratings section. It's a smart move again on the part of TNA. Since this does not effect me in the slightest as I live in Australia, I can still watch both TNA and RAW seperately so TNA/RAW airing at the same time doesn't bother me.

 

[Ambiguous Turd]

I dont belive that TNA is ready to go head to head with WWE yet. give it a couple of years and then with the majority of WWE fans growing up, they will switch to TNA. if it really becomes a problem, the WWE will simply switch to tv-14 rating. the WWE was PG before the atitude era and they can go back if they really need to.

Hogan is probably not going to be around for "a couple more years". If they are going to do this, they better take advantage of Hogan being on board now.

It's all about timing.

Would I have advised them to do it without Hogan? Absolutely not.

But with Hogan, Angle, AJ Styles, Sting (probably didn't retire because he knew this announcement was coming), possibly Flair .... yeah, the circumstances have changed.

Hogan/Bischoff to TNA, TNA Impact to go head to head with RAW... I thought bad things come in threes? Well, for the WWE that is, not TNA. I wonder if TNA has anything else up their sleeves?

Look, having a crack at airing their own product with the WWE's RAW won't be anything but beneficial to TNA. They don't have great ratings as it is, so if they get defeated by RAW it is not going to matter much. This can act as the test subject to see how the modern day TNA can fair up against the best brand the WWE has to offer in the ratings section. It's a smart move again on the part of TNA. Since this does not effect me in the slightest as I live in Australia, I can still watch both TNA and RAW seperately so TNA/RAW airing at the same time doesn't bother me.

Put it this way. TNA has nothing to lose by going up head-to-head with Raw and everything to gain. People who watch TNA are more often than not disgruntled fans of WWE (like me) who are not happy with what Wakeless Watered-down Entertainment has been giving them these past several years. They aren't going to be the ones switching over to Raw. It's the people who feel that "watching Raw has become a chore these days" that are the most prone candidates to make the switch.

 

[Lee]

I also think those that watch TNA regular would rather watch TNA over WWE, I also think the majority watch both. If TNA take on Raw you're pretty much guaranteed TNAs ratings will be at least the same they are which in turn will knock WWEs ratings down by the 1.3 or whatever it is that TNA is drawing.

It makes logical sense to go at it now with Hogan and Bischoff why wait?

 

[ReeYees]

maybe Vince sent Hogan and Bischoff to TNA to scout out talent for him and maybe cause chaos so he can buy it at a later date. it might be a ruse

 

[Big Ol' Buckta AIDS]

i didn't mean that hogan would be around for years. but with hogan, they might take some viewers from WWE. what i was stating was that with this increase in viewers that TNA might get (i stress the word might, as this could blow up in their faces) this could snow ball into something that the WWE has to address.

 

[Tyler44]

TNA has already done pretty well, cause now i want to watch it. I have always loved Eric Bischoff so i am extremely curious to see what he can do to TNA. I don't watch it on a regular basis, i will watch it I'm home and realize its on, but from what I've seen, it reminds me of a little shittier version of old wwe. With Bischoff, i think they can get some interesting shit going which will actually entertain me, something wwe cannot do. So i will check it out, if i like it, then ill keep watching, if not then i guess i might watch raw if i don't get bored within the first 20 minutes.

 

[byrnside]

Bring it on! I'm more than ready for another War. Last time I was WWF through and through, and not to say I wouldn't be this time, but I hope TNA can bring the punches, so we can see awesome programming from both sides, and I think, starting with Hogan and Bischoff was a good start. The real question is, will Easy E be doing any booking?

 

[Shocky]

While I'm not sure initially TNA would do well in a head to head, I think with the audience they are trying to reach eventually they would do well in that situation. It's primetime, and primetime viewing simply isn't for the PG Audience. TNA with it's TV-14 rating (I think) is simply geared more to that demographic right now then the WWE. Still, a lot of things need to happen. TNA needs to get it's name out there for this to be reasonable, but with the Hogan signing and his affiliation with the likes of larry King and Jay Leno, this shouldn't be a problem.

I know the Monday Night rumor is the big thing right now, but don't sleep on big names being signed by TNA either. There are some decent free agents out there. As much as this will shock those that know me on here, TNA signing a Jeff Hardy right now would be nearly just as large.

 

[Viola Moonlight]

Put it this way. TNA has nothing to lose by going up head-to-head with Raw and everything to gain. People who watch TNA are more often than not disgruntled fans of WWE (like me) who are not happy with what Wakeless Watered-down Entertainment has been giving them these past several years. They aren't going to be the ones switching over to Raw. It's the people who feel that "watching Raw has become a chore these days" that are the most prone candidates to make the switch.

Clearly understood to me, as evident in my previous post. Beneficial in every way even if WWE pulls something out of their ass and makes TNA Impact do worse than usual or keep them at the same ratings during RAW. If they competely fail, they can analyse everything what happened during the two broadcasts and find what happened. If they do better in the ratings, its a signal to the WWE that "Hey, we are here to cause a ruckus... watch out." I doubt they would do better than RAW, but there has been the odd occassional where these things have happened.

I will be tuning into RAW and Impact as they are on different days in Australia. RAW is on a Wednesday and Impact is on a Saturday, so it has no effect on me. I tell you what though, if this were me in America... I'd record one show and watch the other. I would most likely watch TNA just to support the smaller business and watch the recorded RAW afterwards.

 

[ascott1984]

I do agree that watching wwe is a chore and has been for a while. i watch all three shows every week out of habit and not out of interest. I also watch tna and am really excited about their product at the minute especially with todays news. i still feel that the time isnt right for a head to head simply because if the rumour started that this was the case i imagine vince and others at titan towers would manage to find a way to up the anti. At the start of the monday night wars vince always insisted that ratings weren't the most important thing but to EB they were the only thing. I think those at the wwe have learned from wcw to pay attention to their ratings if tna were to launch a monday night show.

 

[matassi]

also, maybe the other announcement will be them getting out of the impact zone and actually start doing live shows from smaller "arenas" (like the size of the building they had bfg in this year). and i agree maybe like once a month they can test doing monday night shows and see what happens.

 

[FromTheSouth]

If TNA moved to Monday's, Vince would put Edge, Cena, Jericho, and DX on Raw and let them have at it. No more PG, and Lord Sidious would get his wish. Raw would be an edgy character driven show. WWE would also loosen up the restriction on movesets and bring more excitement to the matches.

I wouldn't be surprised if the brand split ended either. I would imagine Vince would want all of the top stars' hands on deck. What was the purpose of building up new talent (like Punk, Morrison, Kofi, etc.) if you're not going to unleash them defeat a competitor.

I honestly see this as working well for both companies. TNA would serve itself to package itself as an alternative to WWE though. It can only be good for a while for both sides, but the cyclical nature of entertainment in America dictates that one will eventually fall.

 

[hellfirebrian85]

This is WCW all over agian though. Flair, Hogan, Bishoff, Russo, Sting, Stiener, Nash and the you have you old WWE guys Angle, Morgan, Dudley's, Rhino.

As much as I'd like to get excited about this, I'm just not sure. WCW failed with that formula, TNA maybe the next to fall at the hands of WWE. I don't want that to be true, so I hope that TNA has a hell of a lot more up their sleeves before they go through with this plan. It's a risky road to travel. And TNA doesn't have the money like Billionaire Ted did.

 

[Freddy4190]

TNA pretty much just picked up the gauntlet and bitchslapped the WWE with it. If all this goes the way it seems then it might actually light that fire under Vince's ass and help him step it up a notch, make him more competitive. I personally don't think TNA's ratings will compete with WWE's right away if this does happen, it might take a while to get up there, but nonetheless it'll be interesting to see Vince competitive again instead of his same ol' "I-own-wrestling-so-fuck-being-creative" side.

 

[2sexxyy4u]

Seriously?
Iam happy tna are finally doing something right
now they will get the wwe's attention.
People are constantly saying tna are gonna crush wwe
or wwe is gonna buy out tna
to be honest i dont want wwe to buy out tna
in some way i like to think wwe is letting tna pick up steam
not to crush them
but it will give them compettition that they badly need

 

[keegamer80]

I am a loyal "wwe mark". I have watched tna and it doesn't impress me at all. The storylines are horrible just like wwe. Hogan is a house hold name no doubt. However none of you can seriously think he will have the same kind of impact (no pun intended) that he did 15 years ago in wcw. It will help tna I am sure. As for eric bischoff rock on. I hate him as a person. Though he is a great talent on tv. I wish tna the best if they go head to head. Just remember they don't have the money that billionaire ted has. Also wcw was around along long long time before they were in position to compete. My opinion as a fan that has put 25 years into wrestling. TNA = Totally Not At the level of wwe.

 

[Super Crazy]

Whoa. The good news keeps on coming. First Hogan and Bischoff....now potentially moving to Monday nights. This is definitely an attempt by TNA to get wrestling booming again. Bringing in the biggest name in almost all of wrestling history along side a man who tried to take down the WWE while in WCW. This can only mean potentially three things, two of which are positive, one of which negative :

Positive :

- TNA will start stealing fans from the WWE and boost their ratings dramatically.
- Wrestling could go through another potential boom period as stated in another thread.

Negative :

- TNA could flounder under the pressure of seriously competing with the WWE. Their booking could end up going to hell due to the possibility of another potential fingerpoke of doom or anything along those lines.

Either way I personally hope this brings good things to TNA and wrestling in general. I am very exciting to see what the coming months bring to the plate.

 

[And I'm Awesome]

OK, let me preface this with the statement that all I know about TNA, I've learned on WrestleZone. Kind of like WCW back in the day, it feels like it's a lot of WWE guys who are now going up against their former employer. I don't think TNA will necessarily draw and worse on Mondays than they do on Thursdays, but...such a move would, in my opinion, ultimately destroy TNA.

See, Vince has been able to take it easy this past decade with no serious competition. And who knows, he may not consider TNA serious, even with Hogan and Bisch, and *allegedly* moving to Monday nights. Eventually, though, TNA will become a thorn in Vince's side. And then he stops playing.

In the nineties, he had to take it easy because of the steroid scandal, and WCW was able to push itself to the fore with edgy and interesting stories while WWF had to keep its nose clean. Once he could, Vince started spicing things up a bit. Vince built a company and characters that people cared about. How many WWF fans brought their "Mick Foley put my ass in this seat" signs to arenas around the country? In the end, Vince's dedication to his talent and his superior product won him the Monday Night Wars.

Now, Vince could get out of the PG era quickly if business called for it, as he isn't under some governmental microscope. I think some folks on here are right that Vinnie Mac would, at least, temporarily end the brand split. All hands on deck, as it were, to pummel Impact! on Mondays. Vince would fire the big guns, and it would likely be a matter of time until TNA folded...No offense to the TNA fans and faithful, but give me one name associated with TNA that has the wrestling pedigree and record of one VKM. Dixie? Nope. Russo? He's 1 and 1 at best...and with Bisch coming in with Hogan, might be 1 and 2. Bisch was Vince's equal for a while...but he also had Ted Turner's financial backing.

For a while, such a move would look good for TNA and ought to vastly improve the WWE product. I'm just concerned that WWE will rise quickly to the challenge and we'll have to suffer through another Invasion when Vince decides to buy all the TNA video footage with which he can make tons of money in DVD sales later...

 

[Fallen Angel 21.3]

maybe Vince sent Hogan and Bischoff to TNA to scout out talent for him and maybe cause chaos so he can buy it at a later date. it might be a ruse

hold up dude time out okay i seem to remember a time when a man named Hulk Hogan went to WCW and help them beat RAW for 84 weeks in a row and Bischoff i don't think is a fan of WWE so this is a good thing for TNA they can now finally bring back some old fueds like Sting and Ric those matches will never get old, also with Nash already in the company would could possably see a true NWO reunion to take on World Elite think about old guys vs. young guys. hell maybe they can finally get rob terry out of tna and get somebody good in his spot but i doubt hogan and bischoff would scout out talent for vinny mack

 

[Yrrab]

Man, all these crazy announcements make you wonder what exactly Shane might be up to...

I'm sure he's probably done with wrestling for a good while since he's been apart of it since he was a wee lad, but there's always that small chance, right?